Kevin Adams reflects on his time at UT and describes his craft in an interview with the College of Fine Arts.

“I only ever had one lighting class, which was a required class. It was a very inspiring class taught by David Nancarrow and involved all kinds of technical things that I have long since forgotten. But David was a very inspiring theatre maker and an enthusiastic advocate of taking risks, and that always stuck with me.

Mostly I was nurtured by the set design teachers at UT. John Rothgeb brought me to UT and was extremely encouraging, and visiting designer Michael Sharp was very helpful by introducing me to theatre in New York City. But mostly I studied with Robert Schmidt who arrrived at UT during my sophomore year. And a lot of what I practice every day today in my work as a lighting designer came from studying set design with him.”

“The Blanton is pleased to organize and present this first survey exhibition of Michael Smith’s impressive body of work,” said Blanton Director Jessie Otto Hite. “Not only does this show allow us to showcase the work of one of the university’s finest artists, it also affirms one of the new Blanton’s strengths as a major presenter of contemporary art. Smith’s work speaks to issues that touch all our lives-depersonalization, isolation, failure, fear of failure, and the rapid pace of change. Michael Smith, Joshua White, and the other collaborators of Mike’s World illuminate timely challenges with poignancy and humor.”

This summer and fall, the School of Music’s Butler Opera Center and the Department of Theatre and Dance have joined forces with several organizations from three different countries to create a ground-breaking production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. This re-imagined production of the opera uses state-of-the-art digital technology to bring Mozart’s classic into the twenty-first century.

The University of Texas at Austin announced in March that the San Antonio-based architecture firm Lake | Flato was chosen to create an innovative renovation of the Department of Art and Art History’s Visual Arts Center (VAC). The VAC will occupy the space formerly known as the Huntington Gallery that also housed The Blanton Museum. Renovations will begin mid-2008.

The VAC will serve as a flexible, interdisciplinary, educational environment for Art History, Design, Studio Art, and Visual Art Studies/Art Education. It will create the department’s first centralized community spaces, allowing faculty, alumni, and the public to join students as they present groundbreaking

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